The Tattoo
by Cotto
Summary: Takes place at the end of 'The Dark Age', the idea is "What if Buffy's tattoo couldn't be removed before her mom came home?" It's my first attempt at humor writing- but it kind-of became drama and grew from there... intended rating is G, though it's probably PG- due to Buffy trying to get into a catfight with Harmony in school. Enjoy!


**The Tattoo.**

**Buffy the Vampire Slayer.**

**Pairing: None.**

**Characters: Giles, Buffy, Joyce, Dawn, Shelia and Willow Rosenberg.**

**Author: James Carmody, Pennames of author: Vantiri, Cotto.**

**Premise: **Takes place the evening after "The Dark Age". Basically there's a social meltdown at the Summers household, as it comes to light that Buffy has a tattoo.

**Genre:** Family, Humor/Comedy, Domestic Chaos, Drama, and teen Angst (Catfights, or near).

**Rating:** I'd guess, PG.

**Disclaimer: **Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon not me! I Will Accept No Money for This!

**Original Idea: **I was watching "the dark age" a few days ago, and it hit me- what if Buffy couldn't get the tattoo removed before her mother saw it- but her mom sees it after or during Buffy's scheduling of the removal? Well this is my response…

Tuesday at 2:00pm at 1630 Ravello Drive…

"So that's the earliest you can do it, Saturday at 10:00am? Yeah I'd like that time… alright book me in for that time slot." Buffy Summers was saying into the telephone- this was the 6th tattoo removal shop she'd called and the earliest appointment date she could schedule. _Well, gotta postpone buying those new shoes until I get rid of this STUPID TATTOO!_ Buffy thought… Just then the front door to the Summers residence opened and she heard her mom say "Buffy, Dawn, I'm home… how's your day, girls?" Buffy was still on the phone with the store and unfortunately, because it was a hot day, her hair was up… which in turn meant that her tattoo was exposed to the front door- the very same door her mom had just entered. "OK, great, I'll see you then Bye, oh and thank you." Buffy said into the receiver.

Joyce, for her part dropped her bag in shock and as her eyes went wide, she freaked. "Buffy, what in the world is That?" _Oh Great!_ Buffy thought _Of all the timing in the world for this to happen it has to happen now?!_ Now thoroughly embarrassed, Buffy's head hit her left hand, face down and hung up the phone. She then turned around, and now upset and with red eyes, said "Mom, I'm trying to get this STUPID MARK REMOVED! That's why I was just on the phone." 'Who mutilated you, Buffy?' 'I don't want to talk about it, Mom.' 'Who, Buffy?' Buffy sighed, 'A lowlife by the name of Ethan Rayne.' 'Why?' 'Because he was being a Coward, Mom… he tried to hide behind me, to get some monster off his tail.' 'I'll help you out, my Daughter.' "Thanks Mom, you don't know how much this means to me."

Buffy and Mrs. Summers talked for about ½ hour, right about then, Dawn, Buffy's 12yr old sister came in the room and, to Buffy's horror she realized that her sister had seen her tattoo- _Oh, No!_ Buffy thought when Dawn let out a squeal of shocked delight _The Perdition's just beginning._ Buffy thought, her mind now on overdrive- panic mode… Buffy at 17yrs, tried to run her 12yr old sister down, but their mother was able to stop her from getting up with a hand on her shoulder. _'Oh Boy, this jerk has REALLY WORKED Over my elder daughter's life- first attempted catfight I've seen between these two I've seen yet!'_ Mrs. Summers thought sarcastically.

That night, Joyce couldn't stop thinking about this and as it mulled over in her head _I'll have to call Mr. Giles tomorrow, and find out just WHO IN THE WORLD this Ethan Rayne really is and how he managed to get so close to my child!_ Were Joyce's thoughts. Buffy herself had an amazingly restful sleep. The thing that really floored her was that she was getting amazingly self-conscious about this, _Who'd have thought that something so superficial could do so much damage?!_ Buffy didn't think of herself as the superficial type these days… and that fact really bugged her.

Bus and entry into Sunnydale High.

Next morning, while getting off the bus, she met with her best friends Willow and Xander- and then, to her horror- she heard the distinctive 'click' of a cell phone camera going off. _Oh, it's probably nothing, just someone photographing a tree, most likely._ But she couldn't suppress her fear that someone had photographed that ridiculous tattoo. Unbeknownst to Buffy or any of her circle of friends; Harmony Kenndal snuck off to behind a tree, and proceeded to text the following message: "Look and Send." on the label and the caption of the photo said "Buffy's tattoo." to All the Cordettes, (Cordelia Chase's girl-gang, not the violent type, just troublemaking to those they consider to be socially inept).

Cordelia checks her phone during an open period, and, not only being the 'alpha female' of the Cordettes- also being good friends with Buffy- decides to send her a picture of what's been wandering around… Buffy receives the picture but doesn't even pick up her phone until her aerobics are done. (She's working out in the library.) Upon finishing her calisthenics Buffy looked at her phone, _ooh, a message, and it says: Look and Send, and it's from Cordy, maybe she wants to talk about some new social activity at the Bronze this weekend, then again, why would it say 'Look and Send'? Something must be up…_ so she clickedon it. It was a 2 pager- the first page said Harmony sent this around, the second page was the Really Unnerving one… it showed a picture of the back of her neck and the caption said "Buffy's Tattoo.". At this, Buffy blew her top, she went berserk. Now enraged, the young lady stormed off and spent the next 2 hrs rampaging around the school looking for Harmony… she wanted to beat her up.

Cordelia found Harmony first, and there was a fair degree of angry words between the two of them- I have no interest in going into everything said, but Cordy pretty much called Harm 'a sadistic monster who enjoys causing trouble for innocents.'. Right about then Cordelia, thinking the matter had been solved- walked off, Xander Harris, taking a leisurely stroll down the hallway, was an eyewitness to the entire encounter… everything kind-of melted down from there, because an enraged Buffy had just found Harmony K.

_ This looks a lot like the encounter in the Death Star hallway in A New Hope (Star Wars episode 4) between Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi!_ Xander's impression was. "You twisted sadist!" Buffy shouted at Harmony "Is this your idea of fun?" it was clear that a fight was going to break out and it just so happened that Cordelia telephoned Principle Snyder to let him know what was about to happen. "Hello, Principle Snyder speaking, who am I speaking to?" "Uh, Sir, you'd better get to this particular hall pronto, a fight's about to break out." "Cordelia?! Should you really be calling me?" "Sir, we can deal with that later- right now this is the more pressing matter." "Very well, which hall?" "Front, Sir." Snyder hung up.

(Snyder was always looking for a chance to get Buffy in trouble, but even he couldn't ignore this, or let it go where he wanted it.) Snyder got in the path of the fight, and looking right at Buffy, told her to go to the guidance councilor's office for anger management counseling, then turned to Harmony and said to her and just about all of the Cordettes "My office, Now!" then "Not you Miss Chase."

On the way to the guidance councilor's Buffy reflected on what had almost happened _I'm lucky I didn't beat the living crud out of Harmony, not that I didn't want to, but if I had I would have likely wound up in prison!_ In short, Buffy wound up scheduled for 1:00 pm anger management on Wednesdays for a semester… _Could have gone much worse._ Buffy thought.

Rosenberg's Residence:

"Willow, I just got off the phone with Mrs. Summers, do you know anything about her daughter Buffy's tattoo?" Shelia Rosenberg asked. Then mother and daughter carried on a 45min discussion on what had happened to Miss Summers.

1630 Ravello Drive, Summers Residence:

"Mr. Giles, it's Mrs. Summers, I'm really concerned, as it turns out, my daughter Buffy got a tattoo of something called the mark of Eygon, what in the world is that and why would you let her?" Giles, now cornered, reveals the story of how that club was formed and what had happened.

Meanwhile Buffy, now home was almost in tears… but she got to thinking _Ethan Rayne must be in paradise (due to his love of chaos), if I ever find him I'm going to clobber him for this! The only socially safe place for me now is the girls' lavatory or another room with just Willow and/or Cordelia and possibly a room with Xander._

Sunnydale High.

Sunnydale High the next day (Thursday) 2nd period was (for Buffy) cheerleading practice, and she was about to find the girls locker room to be a social-torture-chamber! There were almost 6 catfights in the ½ hour to get changed into her cheerleading outfit for Buffy- all because some **idiotic jerk** who was once a 'friend' of Rupert Giles decided to force her into his little 'supernatural sorcery gang' (by first chloroforming her, then tying her to a table, next, when she was awake- tattooing her with a black mark that looked something like a cross between a flower and a snake). Indeed, all she seemed to hear was "Nice Tattoo, Buff! Ha-Ha!" it **really****irked**** her**!

The mark is a beacon for a demon named Eygon, hence Buffy's anger over her body's mutilation.

Friday: after Miss. Calendar's computer class she had a surprise visit "Hello, Buffy, what can I do for you?" Jenny asked. "Miss. Calendar, how does one remove a photo that someone else has put on the internet?" "Gee, Buff, that's a tough one- I don't even know if it's possible… Does this have anything to do with that disturbing tattoo picture I saw online?" Buffy began to break down emotionally at this… "Lets see if we can do something about this problem- shall we?" and Jenny guided Buffy over to a computer that she used for her own internet research. All this happened after the day's counseling session for Buffy about catfights.

After about 1 ½ hours of searching and trying to remove that picture, Buffy said "Yes it is about that ridiculous tattoo, you see, I was forced to take it- I never wanted to mark my body with that childish horror!… I was kidnapped and it was done against my will!" she said ashamed _it seems like the ONE topic I want __deleted__ will be on __everybody's__ mind till __**doomsday!**_ Buffy thought, enraged and despairing.

When at home, she fell down on her bed crying… but she was hopeful that the next day this BLASTED TATTOO would be removed- and her life would be back to the way it ought.

And, by Sunday, at church, she was clear of the defilement.

At Monday in school, Willow explained that she couldn't focus at all on the readings at the synagogue because her mind kept on going back to her best friend's tattoo- so she ended up continuously begging the Lord to help her best friend to get through this situation: "It was all one constant prayer, Buffy, I couldn't think of anything else- but your situation… it's a real relief that that is removed at last!"

**The story kind-of ends here, and, though I'd like to point out that I intended it to be humor… it basically became drama!**

**Thank you for your time and attention.**


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